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RE: HPI Mini Recon

Hi Guys,

I apologize for the newbie post. I just bought my 7 yr old the mini recon for Christmas. Right out of the box the back left shcok was busted up by the seam. It looked like it would screw back together but after a couple jumps and 15 minutes of use it kept coming undone and I would have to screw it back in place again. My son and I had taken out on a couple of times when he went out of town last week to visit withmy father. Iasked them not to drive it if the shock came loose, but low and behold neither my Dad or my Son listened to me. I do not think they drove it much with the shock loose but definetly drove it with the shock loose some. Long story short. When I plugged it up and drove it after my Son came home it will only drive a couple MPHand makes a high tension sound on the moto like it is stressed or something. I am just learning about RC cars so I have no clue what it is., I literally took the whole car apart, but everything seemed to be working. The motor is still turning the gear at a high speed, and the wheels will still spin pretty fast when you are holding it off the ground, but once it hits the ground it barely moves and will barely go in reverse are turn sharply at all. I literally inspected everything when I took it apart and axles, ball differentials everything seemed to be in place, but still exact same performace when I put it back together. Anybody that could help me troubleshoot what the problem is? My son is really dissapointed, it was great fun the few times we took it out. Happy New Year and any help would be greatly appreciated.

RE: HPI Mini Recon

Hi everyone now that my boys are getting older I'm living my r/c childhood vicariously through them. So, Santa brought my seven year old a Mini Recon this year. He made it through one charge before both differentials crapped out and 5 teeth on the rear sheared off. I've emailed HPI to see what they'll do but in the meantime I'm researching upgrades. From reading this it sounds like the RC18 parts will work. Could one of you reply with detailed part list (pictures and links would be awesome)?

RE: HPI Mini Recon

@cpm917 sounds like the mesh is off try to adjust the pinion so there is a teeny bit of wiggleroom between the pinion, and spur (and I mean a extremely small amount)
As for shocks

@lstiffler currently seems the RC18's steel after market diff will fit(I've yet to try it personally) unfortunately the only place I know of in the US to get it has been out of stock for a few weeks(I want a set, and been waiting) http://thetoyz.com/Associated/RC18B/...The-Toyz/9388/
Also HPI will more than likely replace the diffs though they are usually good for the 1st set. In my one buggy I liquefied the diffs from flinging a BL setup that was wayy too powerful for the RC in to it, and HPI sent me out a replacement even though I said what I did

With great speed comes greater repair bills.
Click on My models to see some of what I own. Eventually will add the rest

RE: HPI Mini Recon

I hit up two hobby shops this afternoon. Scooped up an RC18T Complete Diff Kit (plastic) and aluminium dog bones. Unfortunately only could build one so we're running 2wd until I can find some super diffs. At least we can run for now...

RE: HPI Mini Recon

hmm got my titanium turnbuckles, and after opening them found out they were for the RC18r... the place I got them from didn't have that in the description... I'll be honest I never knew there was even a rc18r...

As for tires I got the RC18 12mm hex adapter kit(cale with alum hex'x with an offset, and 5mm to 3mm flange adapter for the rims hole so it won't wobble), put on a set of tamiya rims I had laying around, and got some tamiya rally tires for it tires themselves cost me like $25 for the 4, and the rims well I had them sitting around for over a year so I dunno.
I got to pick up the megatech alum upgrade kit tomorrow at the post office after that(and hopefully I will find 6 small screws to cut for tie-rods) I might take a pic of what it looks like now

With great speed comes greater repair bills.
Click on My models to see some of what I own. Eventually will add the rest

RE: HPI Mini Recon

Well picked up the aluminum megapro kit, and installed most of it.

Found out the recon is not a 100% clone of the propulse/megapro like we all thought. There are 3 part differences 1 the motor mount is designed better on the propulse IMO, and 2 the chassis, and the spur gear cover are slightly different to accommodate the different motor mount. The motor mount for the propulse is completely different than the recons. The recon you adjust gear mesh by loosening the 2 screws on the bottom, and one on top, and slide it where the pro-pulse/megapro have a more traditional stationary motor plate that you loosen the screws that go into the motor, and slide it.

Outside that the parts are basically identical.

Here is my recon with the majority of the propulse aluminum upgrade kit on. Things I didn't use the arms(hate aluminum arms), the motor mount (reason I stated above), and the 4 blue wheel lock nuts that came with it (they wouldn't work with the rims).
The 12mm kit is part #AET10MS06 I got it from everythingrc on ebay under "Associated RC18 Blue alum. sedan wheel adapter 18t"

Still need to get tierods so I can put the wheels pitch correct. seeing they are bellowing in.

Mods I did to make the RPM arms fit the alum parts. Used a 5/64th's drill bit to enlarge the holes on the C-hubs, and rear wheel carriers. Also used my dremel to dremel a teeny bit of the RPM arm to widen the part the C-hub, and rear carriers go in so the would move freely (just a hair off both sides). Shock towers screwed right on, and had to loosen the battery screws by 1 turn to get the aluminum battery bar to fit.

Also did a measurement the tamiya rally tires I got the diameter is 10mm greater than the stock recons, so I could not recommend them to people running the stock brushed setup.

Attached Thumbnails

With great speed comes greater repair bills.
Click on My models to see some of what I own. Eventually will add the rest

RE: HPI Mini Recon

Β*Hi guys,Β*

I am really new in the RC world but I was looking for a proper topic for the HPI Mini Recon and this brought me here.

Soo first my important question - I want to try putting tires from bigger RC on the MR, but I am not really familiar with the other cars on the market, so ca you recommend my anything bigger that you think will be able to fit the recon without to much modifications and effort?

And if any of you is interested here is what we \me and a friend of mine\ have done with the Mini Recon so far...
The original ESC was changed by Turnigy TrackStar 18A 1/18th Scale Brushless Car ESC + small 3100kV Brushless Motor and a 1800 mAh LiPo \fits perfectly on the place on the original one\. We also did some modifications on the isolation for the "vulnerable" parts so the car can run on snow.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2D9f1i1isY[/youtube]

BTW this \in the video\Β*is not the full potential of the motor, because at the time of the "video shoot" I have forgot the Turnigy TrackStar ESC Programing Car and the motor was running on lowest frequency. Anyway the recon is a lot of fun for driving on snow/ice.

Β*

So now I have some cool ideas for visual modifications, but we will see how the things will go :P

RE: HPI Mini Recon

ORIGINAL: strangera

Soo first my important question - I want to try putting tires from bigger RC on the MR, but I am not really familiar with the other cars on the market, so ca you recommend my anything bigger that you think will be able to fit the recon without to much modifications and effort?

If ya look up 3 posts at the post I did I have the part listed to let you adapt 1/10th scale rims to it

The 12mm kit is part #AET10MS06 I got it from everythingrc on ebay under "Associated RC18 Blue alum. sedan wheel adapter 18t"

I put 1/10th scale sedan rims on it with tamiya rally tires they are 10mm's bigger diameter wise.

With great speed comes greater repair bills.
Click on My models to see some of what I own. Eventually will add the rest